Australian Music Prize makes hip-hop history

For the first time in its history the Australian Music Prize has been awarded to a hip-hop act.

Hermitude is now $30,000 richer thanks to the PPCA, with the duo awarded the eighth annual AMP for their self-produced fourth album HyperParadise. Childhood friends Angus Stuart and Luke Dubber accepted the award at a lunchtime ceremony at Sydney’s Basement today. They beat out an eclectic field that included Daily Meds, The Presets, Urthboy, Liz Stringer, Jess Ribeiro and The Bone Collectors, Grand Salvo, Flume and the all-conquering Tame Impala, whose second album Lonerism topped FL (and everyone else’s) end-of-year poll for album of the year.

Hermitude formed in 2000, releasing their first EP Imaginary Friends through Elefant Traks in 2002. HyperParadise features the singles ‘Get In My Life’ and ‘Speak Of The Devil’, which won the 2011 J Award for “Music Video of the Year.

Last year’s Australian Music Prize – won by The Jezabels’ Prisoner – came under arguably more scrutiny than the prize had encountered in its existence, with at least one judge quitting before the announcement and others describing it as “safe”. The AMP tried to address some of those criticisms by dropping the entry fee and inviting some 230 artists to enter, which they deduced down to a 60 album-strong longlist.